@article{ART003397056},
author={Kwon, Bong Cheol},
title={Rethinking Pluriversity through Amawtay Wasi: From a Universal Order of Knowledge to a Knowledge Community of Many Worlds},
journal={Cross-Cultural Studies},
issn={1598-0685},
year={2026},
volume={79},
pages={1-35}
TY - JOUR
AU - Kwon, Bong Cheol
TI - Rethinking Pluriversity through Amawtay Wasi: From a Universal Order of Knowledge to a Knowledge Community of Many Worlds
JO - Cross-Cultural Studies
PY - 2026
VL - 79
IS - null
PB - Center for Cross Culture Studies
SP - 1
EP - 35
SN - 1598-0685
AB - Questioning the modern university’s institutionalization of particular knowledge systems as universal standards, this article reexamines pluriversity through the educational philosophy and institutional experience of Amawtay Wasi, an intellectual and educational project of Ecuador’s Indigenous movement grounded in community, territory, knowledge, and life. Drawing on educational models, legal texts, evaluation documents, and field materials, it examines how this philosophy was institutionalized in the curricula, organization, and decision-making of the university and traces the university’s relationship with the state, from its suspension in 2013 and its reconstitution as a public community university in 2018 to the budget cuts and state interventions since 2024. While the authority to recognize knowledge was partly shared with communities and their sages, the authority to judge the university’s legitimacy remained with the state. The article conceptualizes this arrangement as a “dual structure of recognition” and shows that pluriversity is concerned less with the coexistence of diverse knowledges than with the redistribution of authority over their production, validation, and evaluation among the university, communities, and the state. Finally, it proposes a “knowledge community of many worlds, ” in which different knowledge-worlds jointly produce and evaluate knowledge while sustaining their respective historical, linguistic, and communal foundations.
KW - Pluriversity;Amawtay Wasi;Interculturality;Pluriverse;Decoloniality;Ecuador
DO -
UR -
ER -
Kwon, Bong Cheol. (2026). Rethinking Pluriversity through Amawtay Wasi: From a Universal Order of Knowledge to a Knowledge Community of Many Worlds. Cross-Cultural Studies, 79, 1-35.
Kwon, Bong Cheol. 2026, "Rethinking Pluriversity through Amawtay Wasi: From a Universal Order of Knowledge to a Knowledge Community of Many Worlds", Cross-Cultural Studies, vol.79, pp.1-35.
Kwon, Bong Cheol "Rethinking Pluriversity through Amawtay Wasi: From a Universal Order of Knowledge to a Knowledge Community of Many Worlds" Cross-Cultural Studies 79 pp.1-35 (2026) : 1.
Kwon, Bong Cheol. Rethinking Pluriversity through Amawtay Wasi: From a Universal Order of Knowledge to a Knowledge Community of Many Worlds. 2026; 79 1-35.
Kwon, Bong Cheol. "Rethinking Pluriversity through Amawtay Wasi: From a Universal Order of Knowledge to a Knowledge Community of Many Worlds" Cross-Cultural Studies 79(2026) : 1-35.
Kwon, Bong Cheol. Rethinking Pluriversity through Amawtay Wasi: From a Universal Order of Knowledge to a Knowledge Community of Many Worlds. Cross-Cultural Studies, 79, 1-35.
Kwon, Bong Cheol. Rethinking Pluriversity through Amawtay Wasi: From a Universal Order of Knowledge to a Knowledge Community of Many Worlds. Cross-Cultural Studies. 2026; 79 1-35.
Kwon, Bong Cheol. Rethinking Pluriversity through Amawtay Wasi: From a Universal Order of Knowledge to a Knowledge Community of Many Worlds. 2026; 79 1-35.
Kwon, Bong Cheol. "Rethinking Pluriversity through Amawtay Wasi: From a Universal Order of Knowledge to a Knowledge Community of Many Worlds" Cross-Cultural Studies 79(2026) : 1-35.
